Wow, what an amazing experience the GOLD Project has been, where do I start. Thailand is a great country, with so much to see and the most wonderful Thai people. Of course there are the tourist adventures visiting the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, followed by a traditional Thai massage and various other sights of Bangkok. While up in the North of Thailand we visited the Chiang Mai cultural centre, rode an elephant, swam in a waterfall, stayed overnight in a Hill Tribe Village, went Bamboo rafting down a river, visited the Golden Triangle, went on a Tuk Tuk and of course did lots of shopping at the Chiang Mai night markets!
However these fantastic tourist travels were not the real purpose of our trip. The purpose was of course GOLD - Guiding Overseas Linked with Development. The GOLD project involves the team running a number of life skills and program planning sessions for Girl Guide Association of Thailand (GGAT) in both Bangkok and in the province of Chiang Rai in the North of Thailand. At each location we ran both a 3 day adult session for Guide Leaders and a 3 day youth session for Guides and Senior Guides. The topics for all the sessions were: Leadership, Decision Making, Self Esteem, Being Healthy, Mental Health, Sexual Health and Positive Women. All these topics were developed from the WAGGGS messages of both, Our Rights, Our Responsibilities and Girls Worldwide Say…… Each member of the GOLD team planned and ran one of these training sessions with the assistance of the rest of the team. We used a range of games as well as the participants making posters on a wide variety of topics. Guiding in Thailand is run as part of the school system, so Guide meetings are generally Guide Lessons. GOLD is a wonderful opportunity to give Thai Guides and leaders ideas and experiences in learning by doing activities rather than in formal school style learning.
Until I was in Thailand running these sessions, I did not realise, how many skills we have as Guide Leaders, and no matter how inexperienced you may feel, through Guides you have gained so many skill in being able to deliver programs to many difference people….. Even with the occasional language differences!
I would encourage any Olave Program participants within Guides Australia to consider the GOLD Project, it is an amazing worthwhile experience that you will gain so much from while assisting GGAT to continue to develop Guiding within Thailand.
Emma Newnham – Girl Guides NSW
2010 is the Centenary of Guiding and the Year of the Girl Guide. To celebrate, why not try our Centenary Challenge?
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